The Brookhaven leader., 1887-05-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Full of Comfort to
the Afflicted and Distressed.
sprig OF earts-Ease for the wounded
spirlt-Christ the Comforter. the
Ever-Present Help in Time OF
Trouble and Distress.

sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, ad-
dressed his words more particularly to
those on whom the hand of sorrow and
affection had been heavily laid, taking for
his text:
And his discipAnes went and told Jesus
Matthew, xiv., 1S.
An outrageous assassination had Just
taken place. 20 appease revengeful
woman KING Herod ordered the death of
that noble, self-sacrifcing Christian, John
the Baptist. The group of the disciples
was thrown into grief and dismay. They
fel. themselves utterly defenseless. There
was no authority to which they could ap-
peal aud yet grief must always find ex-
preston. If there be no human ear TO
hear It, then the agonized soul will cry 1t
aloud to the winds, and the woods, and
the waters. But there was an ear that
was willing to listen. There is a tender
pathos, and at the same time a most ad-
mirable picture, in the, words OF my text:
They went and told Jesus.
He could understand all their grief, and
he Immediately soothed il. Our burdens
are not more than half so heavy to carry
II another is thrust under the other end
of them. Here we find Christ, his brow
Swallowed with grief, standing amid the
group Of disciples, who, with tears and
violent gesticulations, and wringing of
hands, and outcry of bereavement are
expressing their woe. Raphael, with his
skillful brush putting upon the wall OF
palace some scene of sacred story,
gave not so skillful stroke as when the
plain hand of the evangelist writes:
They went and told Jesus.
The old Goths and Vandals once came
down upon Italy from the north of Eu-
rope, and they upset the gardens, and
yort
away every thing that was good and
beautiful So there is ever and apGn in
the history of all the sons and daughters
Of our race an incursicn oE rough-handed
troubles that come - plumber and ran
sack and put u the torch all that men
highly prize. There is no cave &C deeply
clett into the mountains as to allow us
shelter, and the foot of feetest cours er
ca1 not bear US beyond the quick pursuit.
The arrows they put to the string hy with
unerring dart, until we fall pierced and
stunned
feel that bring to you a most appro-
pirate message. l mean to bind up all
your griefs into a bundle, and set them on
hre with spark from Gods altar. The
same prescription that cured the sorrows
of the disciples will cure all your heart
aches. l have read that when Godfrey
and his army marched out to capture Je-
rusalem, as they came over the hills, at
the first fash Of the pinuacles of that
beautiful city, the army that had marched
IN silence lifted a shout that made the
earth tremble.
o, you soldiers of Jesus Christ march
ing on toward heaven, | would that to-
dav, by some CLEAN from the paIaco OF
Gods mercy and Gods strength you
might be lifted into great rejoicing, and
that before this service is ended you
might raise one Fad hosanna to the Lord
In the hrst pace, commend the behav-
ior OF theSC disciples to all those IN this
audleDce who are sinful and unpardoned.
mere comes a time in almost every
mans history when he feels from some
source that he has an erring nature. Tho
thought may not have such heft as to fell
him. 1t may be only like the flash in an
evening cloud just after very hot sum-
mer day. One man, to get rid of that i'm
preston, Will go to prayer; another will
stimulate himself by ardent spirits, and
another man will dive deeper in seculari-
ties. But sometimes man can not get
rid of these Impressions The fact is,
when man gnds out that his eternity is
poised upon perfect uncertainty, and
that the next moment his foot may slip,
he must do some thing violent to make
hLSuSOL1 1OISoG HhtIC lC SlduuSN vi GlSS
fly for refuge.
II there are any here who have resolved
that they would rather die of this awful
cancer of sin than to have the heavenly
surgeon cut it out, let me say, my dear
brother, you mingie for Yourself a bitter
cup. You fy in the face of your eyerlast-
ing interests. You crouch under a woke
and you bite the dust, when, this moment,
you might rise up crowned conQueror.
Driven and perpleXed and harras sed as
you have been by sin, go and tell Jesus.
TO relax the grip of death from your
soul, and plant your unshackled feet
upon the golden throne, Christ let the
fortunes Of the bloody mount transfix
him. With the beam CT his own cross he
will break down the door of your own
dungeon. From the thorns of his own
crown he will pick enough gems to make
your brow blaze with eternal victory. In
every tear on his wet cheek, in every cash
of his side, in every long, blackening
mark of laceration from shoulder to
shoulder, in the rave-shatterng, heav-
en-storming death groan, l hear him
say:
Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise
cast out.
1t is folly for you to say to some one:
'Oh," but you say, INSTEAD Of curing
my wound you want to make another
wound, namely, that of conviction!"
Have you never known q surgeon to
come and find a chronic disease, and then
with sharp caustic burn it all out! SO the
grace of God comes to the old sore of sin.
1t has long been ranking there, but by
Divine grace it is burned out through
these fires of conviction, "the flesh COM
ing again as the flesh of a little child;n
where sin abounded, grace much more
aboundeth." With the 10000 unpardoned
sins of your life go and tell Jesus. You
will never get rid of your sins in any
other way; and remember that the broad
invitation which ] extend to you will not
always be extended.
King Alfred, before modern timepieces
were invented, used to divide the day into
three parts, eight hours each, and then
had three wax candles. By the time the
first candle had burned to the socket
eight hours had gone, and
when the second candle had
burned to the socket another eight hours
had gone, and when all the three candles
were gone out then the day had passed.
Oh, that some of US, instead of calculating
our days and nights and years by any
earthly timepiece, might calculate them
by the numbers of opportunities and
mercies which are burning down and
burning out, never to be relighted, lest
at last we be amid the foolish virgins
who cried:
Our lamps have gone out
AGAIN I commend the behavior of the